Learning Objectives
In addition to acquiring a better general understanding of the importance of personal re-
lationships in the working world, by playing and then discussing in class their simulation
experience, young people will learn:
● that people react differently to new ideas
● about the power of formal and informal networks
● that managers with important titles might not be the most influential
● that people who do not appear to be important may be very influential
● about the consequences of not following company procedures
● about different techniques to influence people and convince them to change.
● about the importance of understanding the organization’s culture: values, heroes,
rites and rituals, informal communication systems, and management style.and become aware of the following change implementation traps^4 :
● Optimism trap – thinking that the necessity to change, and the quality of the
selected solution will remove barriers.
● Illusion of control trap – forget that change has both intended and unintended
consequences.
● Push though trap - we all tend to dislike to be changed and are sensitive to who
tells us to change – our friends vs. our parents for example.
● Backfiring trap – not foresee that resistance might not come only from the
“bottom”, but also from the “top”.
● Narrow focus trap – only using a few tactics to influence people
● No follow up trap – the need to combine several tactics to increase impact
● Shooting in the dark trap - before acting, we need to gather information about the
“territory” (people, formal/informal networks, culture).
● Give up trap - some people need lots of convincing in different ways.
● Network naivety trap – fail to acknowledge that efficient diffusion requires in-
depth understanding of influence and relationship networks.
● Get it done quickly trap – ordering people to do things can have a negative4 There are many other traps in the simulation, but these are the ones we think
young people could understand and discuss.